Porking up

Based on that double chin, I'd say baby H is putting on some weight! Ha ha---YAY! Hopefully he'll catch up to brother (who weighed in at 9 lbs 2 oz last Weds) soon! I am so in love with these baby boys!

Home!

This sweet boy is home and doing GREAT!

Thank you all for your words of encouragement and prayers!

I'm so happy to have my happy, healthy baby back!

Sweet dreams...

(Sweet Harrison last night--bright-eyed and alert! IV in head looks worse than it is. Sorry for cell phone pic quality)

Harrison is really alert this AM and you can tell he is feeling so much better! Good for this momma's heart! He had a big poop, which is exciting b/c it means he is keeping down a lot of the milk he is drinking and is also how he'll lower his bilirubin. He has gained 4 oz since Monday and his bilirubin is 9.9, down from 12. He's only thrown up a few small times. At 9am, I went to visit him just in time to feed him his most recent bottle. Afterward, I held him for about an hour while he slept and dreamed the sweetest dreams---he was lifting his eyebrows, moving his mouth, smiling biiiiig smiles, etc. Sadly, in the midst of his feeling bad last week, he wasn't doing much dreaming and it makes me realize just how horrible he felt. :( Poor sweet baby. I'm soooo glad to be getting my baby back! He is going to a room today and will probably be discharged tomorrow! I am so grateful for God's healing! Praise the Lord!

Jack Henry is doing so well and is being a wonderful baby for my family, thank goodness! They have been incredible to step in and help with him so Josh and I can be up at the hospital with Harrison! He is growing like crazy!!! Now drinking 5 oz bottles (I pump and send milk home for him), he is also size 1 diapers and wearing some of their 0-3 month clothes! My mom brings him up to the hospital to see me once a day so we can have some love time and let me nurse him. It is good for my soul and I'm sure he likes getting to see his momma! (sorry for dark cell phone pic)

Out of surgery and eating!

Harrison is out of surgery and on the road to recovery! Praise the Lord! The surgery went well and as of now, they are looking for him to be able to eat without throwing up as part of the stipulations for going home. With Pyloric Stenosis, it is very common and almost expected that he'll still continue to throw up for a little bit after eating once he's had the surgery. He has eaten once and had 30 mL of Pedialyte to start him back eating again slowly. I do feel like I can already tell he's feeling better, so that makes me really happy :) They are thinking he'll be here another day or two. We'll see!

Surgery tomorrow

Harrison's surgery has been set for tomorrow, but I'm not sure what time it will be. The doctor stopped the order for labs to be drawn every 6 hours because Harrison's electrolytes are good! YAY! Bless his heart, he is throwing up stomach acid b/c he's been NPO (no food allowed so he's ready for surgery) since yesterday afternoon. I can tell that it must burn his throat b/c he's been crying some and fussy today. Poor baby! I really appreciate all of your words of encouragement and prayers. God hears every word and is so faithful to provide! I'm guessing that we'll go home either Friday or, more likely, Saturday. We'll see!

Jack Henry got to come up here for one of his feedings today (and yesterday). I don't want him up here too much b/c he's so little and I don't want him picking up germs. At the same time, it's good for him and for me/my heart to get a little nursing and loving time together. I sure do miss his sweet face every minute I'm away from him, but feel that Harrison needs his momma at the hospital more. Besides, he is being spoiled rotten by my Aunt Sharon, Uncle Ira, momma, sister, and daddy at home--I think he's definitely ok. :)

Josh and I are looking forward to Harrison getting his own room post-surgery so we'll all have our own space to hang out/sleep and Josh and I can stop sleeping in the waiting room. The SCU is about to re-open for visitation, so I'm going to go love on my precious baby! (They are closed for rounds/shift change/etc. from 6-8:30am, 2-4:30pm, and 10pm-12:30am)

Hope you're all well and blessed. Sweet dreams! Kiss your babies!

Better safe than sorry!

No surgery today. Pyloric stenosis causes alkaline blood, which can lead to respiratory acidosis (bad CO2 levels that can cause him not to breathe) if electrolytes not in order before surgery. Harrison's are definitely improving, but not to level need to be yet. In order to avoid respiratory problems they are waiting on surgery. Probably be tomorrow. Wish he was getting fixed today, but rather be safe than sorry any day with my baby!!!

No reflux.... Yes pyloric stenosis and surgery

Well.... It has been QUITE a week and a half! It all started with my thinking Harrison had a little congestion and the Dr. was glad to find that it had not moved into his chest, then he started spitting up like crazy.... which became a "reflux" diagnosis and he got put on baby Zantac and we'd been making sure he didn't get horizontal..... then it all turned into throwing up basically everything he was eating. He ended up losing 11 oz over the course of the week and a half. Not good.

Yesterday, the doctor said that his weight loss was more than what was typical for only reflux to be the problem, so he ran blood tests and did x-rays. Those all came back normal and his x-rays showed no blockages, thank goodness! His bilirubin (jaundice) was elevated, but the Dr. was not concerned by it yet. He put Harrison on soy formula overnight to see if it might be a milk protein intolerance, but that seemed to be thrown up just as bad or worse. We (especially my mom and I) decided that enough was enough, and we needed answers, b/c he had no more wiggle room with this baby! He'd already almost lost back down to his birth weight at 1 month old. No good. We were very concerned that he was getting dehydrated as he was having fewer tee-tee diapers. Dehydration is bad in general, but especially in precious babies, and things can get bad fast when it comes.

Anyways.... Mom and I took him to the Pediatrician this AM, determined to get action and answers one way or another...and the Pediatrician was definitely on board after seeing Harrison and his jaundice, being lethargic, etc. and sent us down to the ER at Children's Hospital to have an ultrasound done and electrolytes checked. Harrison's electrolytes were definitely out of whack and his ultrasound showed that he did have pyloric stenosis, which is what my mom was suspecting he had from her research. (Good job, Mimi!) Pyloric stenosis is a narrowing of the valve between the stomach and the small intestines and is easily fixed with a laparoscopic surgery. It is most common in first born white males.

Praise God for answers!

They put him on an IV with fluids, etc. to re-hydrate him and get his electrolytes normal again. He has been admitted to the Special Care Unit, which is a step down from the ICU, so he can be monitored overnight. If his electrolyte levels are good, he will have surgery tomorrow, probably in the AM.

Josh and I are spending the night up at the hospital to be with our boy and my family is taking care of sweet Jack Henry (who has, btw, been a complete doll during all of this!). I am SO GRATEFUL for our amazing support system!!!

Well, that's about it... I appreciate all of your sweet words of love, encouragement, and prayers!

Oh, and Jack Henry is doing GREAT! He's taking breastmilk bottles while I'm up at the hospital. We already knew he was a FANTASTIC nurser, but come to find out, that big boy is taking 5 oz bottles! What a far cry from the original 15mL (abt 1/2 oz) that he started on in the NICU! He has been SUCH a sweet boy thru all of this with Harrison, and that has been so helpful!

Lately with the Gambles

As you can imagine, life with twins has me pretty busy, so I haven't grabbed the opportunity to update the blog. The boys are on a 3 hr feeding schedule, so in between feedings lately, I've used that to quickly check e-mail, catch up on tv shows---which I often have to do in small increments (thank goodness for Tivo!), skype with Eden, take the boys to the Dr. and most of all, REST! In the beginning, getting up every few hours was a lot more exhausting. Don't get me wrong, it is still exhausting, but I think our bodies are adjusting a little bit. That, and I'm getting a little better about making myself grab naps here and there than I was in the beginning. Although, after I typed that, I remembered that in the beginning, there was basically zero time for taking naps between nursing a baby at home, trips to the NICU, and nursing a baby at the NICU haha.... no wonder I was so exhausted! Immediately post-surgery, no less!

Friends and family have been incredible to us, which is no surprise, and SUCH a blessing! We've had some amazing friends and family bring us dinners. My mom has been an all-star, coming over to the house daily (or she arranges for my aunt or sister to come help out when she's busy) to do laundry, dishes, cook dinner, etc. Her goal since I came home from the hospital has been to make my life so that all I have to focus on is taking care of babies and getting some rest. Sadly, the everyday help will be ending soon, as Mimi has got to get back to her own daily life, and we'll miss seeing her basically everyday....Although, I know she'll be over often :) It's hard to stay away from these precious boys! Their other grandmother, Gigi, is here right now to help out, which we really appreciate!

At their first Dr. appointment, the boys were both weighing in at 6 lbs 6 oz, a week later, they were up to (Harrison) 6 lbs 15 oz and (Jack Henry) 7 lbs 4 oz! As a breastfeeding mommy, unsure of exactly how much they were actually eating, that made me feel wonderful!

I initially started this post on 5/6/10, but have been distracted from finishing it by mommyhood, especially in the past week. Poor little Harrison has developed reflux and man... I do not wish it on any mommy or any baby! He was spitting up what felt like was non-stop and crying/screaming during/afterward, which made for particularly rough nights! It broke my heart not knowing what was wrong with our sweet boy, nor how to fix it! Concerned that Harrison might be losing weight with everything he was spitting up, I took him to the Dr. to have him weighed on Wednesday. My poor baby had lost 6 oz since Friday. The pediatrician didn't freak out, but took the weight loss seriously and examined him further to determine it was reflux. Thank goodness we figured out what was wrong! He has been put on some baby Zantac, which seems to have helped in addition to our making sure that he is never completely horizontal. He hangs out during the day and sleeps at night in his bouncer. I pray that this reflux thing is short lived b/c it is miserable for Harrison and hard on my heart seeing my baby not feel well. Plus, it makes for a ton of laundry due to burp cloths and changing his clothes multiple times a day when he spits up on them.

Moms with reflux babies: How do you do tummy time with them when they are not supposed to be horizontal???

Oh, and I'm doing pretty well... tired, but extremely happy being a mommy to these boys. I still cannot believe that I'm finally a mommy. Surreal. I'm already sad about them growing up and they're only 4 weeks old! Ha ha. My incision is healing nicely, but is still a little sore. My stomach has gone down a good bit, which is very nice--- although I certainly don't expect for things to be even close to normal only a few weeks after having twins. I am, however, especially looking forward to my skin tightening back up. I can live with stretch marks, which I hear fade drastically over time, but this loose skin is not cute. Mom says to give it time.

I have been taking pictures like crazy and, oddly enough, never feel like there are enough! It's like you know that every single moment is the only time they'll be that age and on that day and you want to document it all! Clearly, that's not realistic, but I do try to snap a few shots each day or most days. I've got to go nurse the boys, but I'll try to get back on soon and upload some pictures! I've had many requests for more! :)

HAPPY MOTHERS DAY!

I wanted to take a quick moment to wish my precious momma a Happy Mothers Day!

My Momma,

You have gone above and beyond throughout my entire life, and these past 3+ weeks with the babies home have been no exception! Thank you for all of your hard work, love, support, quality time, acts of service, and more. You have set the Mommy Bar very high with your excellence and I'm so grateful that I have you as the example to emulate. I love you and appreciate you even more now than I have before!

Love,

Your Taylor